This year, Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) Canada held their second annual Spring Leadership Conference on 3 March to 4 March at the Hilton Hotel and the University of Toronto Exam Centre. Approximately 1,100 ambitious students from all across Canada attended the event, filling the streets of Toronto’s financial district with high school students clad in business-formal clothing.
Just prior to her event, Hanlin Cheng, a Grade 9 student who participated in the ‘Biomedical Debate’ event, said that “I’m really excited for this year’s HOSA.”
With over 20 health-care related events and up to 260 students competing per event, HOSA Canada’s attendees were required to demonstrate their talent diversity. The opening ceremony featured a keynote speaker from the CEO of Cleveland Clinic. There were also booths for universities and scholarships. Students were able to network and learn more about future careers they might want to pursue.
Students from Marc Garneau CI competed at HOSA. Photo: Marzan Hamid.
HOSA also provided a variety of workshops, keeping participants busy even after their event. The workshops included a tour of the University of Toronto (St. George Campus), an introduction to surgical suturing, and a forensic science workshop.
This year, 25 students from Marc Garneau attended. The following students received awards in their categories:
Safiya Erdogan – Top 10 Dental Terminology
Amy Chen – 3rd Place Pharmacology
Helen Lin – 3rd Place Human Growth and Development
Abirami Sivakanthan – 1st Place Human Growth and Development
Sylvia Chong – 2nd Place Medical Reading
Daniel Jin and Matthew Martin – 2nd Place Health Career Display
Jenny Bai – Top 10 Sports Medicine
Hanlin Cheng, Helen Chen, Jessica Zhu – Top 10 Biomedical Debate
Those who placed in the Top 3 in their event will have the opportunity to attend the international HOSA conference in Nashville, during the second week of June.
“I’m so proud of Marc Garneau for making it this far, hopefully we can do amazing at Nashville!” commented Abirami Sivakanthan, a competitor from Marc Garneau.
